Sunday, February 12, 2012

Susan Schneider traveled far and wide collecting "vignettes" from couples in all 48 contiguous United States and several other countries. You can open at random to any page and discover an enjoyable first-person narrative of how strangers met and eventually became spouses. A couple of the accounts I read when I first checked out the book were stories that ended in divorce making me think, "Oh, no! I do not like this at all!" but though I didn't keep count, divorce was a rare final outcome. I especially like the clean, open-looking layout and the fact the author did not try to make each story exactly the same length with precisely the same opening, middle and closing format. One of the best stories the author presented as (sort of) a single account is actually a trilogy of how three brothers from one large family married three sisters from another large family. Whether you've been single for a long time and aren't seriously looking for someone or you're happily newlywed or approaching a major milestone anniversary, I predict you'll enjoy this book as much as I did. What is more, it would make a great gift for almost anyone on your list, from high school kids just starting to date to centenarian great-great-grandparents!